Tom Clancy's Without Remorse is the explosive origin story of action hero John Clark, one of the most popular characters in the author's Jack Ryan universe. In this movie, when a squad of Russian soldiers kills his family in retaliation for his role in a top-secret op, Sr. Chief John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) pursues the assassins at all costs.
Joining forces with a fellow SEAL (Jodie Turner-Smith) and a shadowy CIA agent (Jamie Bell), Kelly’s mission unwittingly exposes a covert plot that threatens to engulf the U.S. and Russia in an all-out war. Torn between personal honor and loyalty to his country, Kelly must fight his enemies without remorse if he hopes to avert disaster and reveal the powerful figures behind the conspiracy.
Directed by Stefano Sollima, the action-packed movie hits Amazon Prime Video on April 30, and we were recently present for the global press conference. What you might not know is that Without Remorse was once set for a theatrical release from Paramount Pictures, but thanks to the pandemic, it's one of many blockbusters that have been offloaded to streaming platforms.
Jordan is also a producer on the movie, and kicked off this Q&A by sharing his thoughts on the debate surrounding the theatrical/streaming experience and where this title fits into that.
"It’s given access to films that [audiences] might not have an opportunity to go see. Some films are shot and meant to be played in a movie theater," the Black Panther star said. "But we’re in an evolution now, an evolving time, with the pandemic this past year, and the shift [from theaters to streaming]. We were victims of that as well, in the sense of trying to figure out where we were going to pivot and how we were going to get our movie out to the masses so that everybody would have an opportunity to see it."
Luckily, we were able to land in a place like Amazon to house this film. So, it’s an evolution. I think it’s going to be a healthy balance between the two [theaters and home viewing]," Jordan continued. "There’s something to be said for being at home and having instant access to movies you want to see but I think there’s also something to going to a theater and having that theater experience as well. I think it’s going to be a nice, healthy balance in the future."
As we explained in our review, there are definitely moments in Without Remorse that would have benefited from the big screen experience. However, with the vast majority of theaters closed, we certainly can't complain about being able to enjoy a blockbuster like this from the comfort (and safety) of home.
The pandemic has seemingly shortened the theatrical window permanently and led to a greater reliance on streaming services. As for Without Remorse, it's a franchise that could comfortably play out on Amazon, especially as the platform would definitely benefit from a long-running action franchise.